1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving contents in a mobile communication network, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for securely transmitting/receiving contents using a message service provided by the network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since the introduction of second generation communication technologies, many service providers provide the user with a variety of communication services such a short message service (SMS), audio data, moving images, electronic-mail, etc. The SMS allows the user to transmit and receive messages having a relatively short length via the mobile communication network.
In more detail, FIG. 1 is an overview of an SMS system in accordance with the related art. As shown, the related art SMS system includes a mobile station (MS) 110, a base station transceiver system (BTS) 112, a base station controller (BSC)/mobile switching center (MSC) 114, a home location register (HLR) 116, an SMS message center (SMC) 118, an SMS server 120, an operating management center (OMC) 122, a cell broadcasting center (CBS) 124, and an information provider (IP) 126 for cell broadcasting (CB).
Turning next to FIG. 2, which illustrates a stack of an SMS protocol in accordance with the related art. As shown, the SMS protocol includes a link layer, a relay layer, a transport layer, and a tele-service layer. Hereinafter, only the upper two layers among the four layers, which are used to transmit a text message, will be explained.
In more detail, the transport layer forms a message by receiving bearer data from the tele-service layer in a mobile communication terminal. As shown in FIG. 3, the related art tele-service layer includes a plurality of sub-parameters, which are used by the tele-service layer to support a basic SMS function.
That is, FIG. 3 illustrates the tele-service layer including a message identifier, user data, an MC time stamp, a priority indicator, a privacy indicator, and a language indicator. The message identifier identifies five types of messages: an SMS deliver message, an SMS submit message, an SMS cancellation message, an SMS user acknowledge message, and an SMS delivery acknowledge message. Further, the user data sub-parameter includes the data input by the user, and the MC time stamp sub-parameter indicates a time at which the message was transmitted. The priority indicator sub-parameter indicates a message priority.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the privacy indicator sub-parameter includes four different priority levels (i.e., levels 0, 1, 2, 3). Thus, the user may set different privacy levels to hide their phone number from being displayed on the receiving terminal or to prevent the user receiving the message from forwarding the message to another user. In the related art, a privacy level of “0” indicates no privacy function, a privacy level of “1” indicates the transmitter's phone number is not shown at a receiving side, and a privacy level of “2” indicates the transmitted message should not be forwarded to another user. The priority level of “3” is not used. Further, the privacy indicator sub-parameter also includes a reserved field, and the language indicator sub-parameter indicates a language used to compose the message.
In addition, in the related art, when the privacy sub-parameter is set to a priority level of “1” such that the transmitter's phone number is not displayed on the receiving terminal, the receiving terminal performs NULL processing of the transmitter's phone number when the receiver's contents are decoded. Further, by setting the privacy level of “2”, the user can protect important contents which must not be forwarded. Thus, pay-per-view contents provided from a contents provider can be prevented from being forwarded to another user (e.g., pay-per-view contents downloaded by accessing a particular web page).
However, in the related art, the privacy features are limited to the above-noted functions. The related art does not address situations where data containing important or sensitive contents (e.g., residence information, credit card information, an ID or password, etc.) may be transmitted to an unintended receiver. That is, if a user accidentally inputs a wrong destination telephone number when transmitting information, the sensitive information is transmitted to the unintended destination terminal.
The related art also does not address the situation in that someone can transmit “spam” contents or immoral contents to a user's terminal, while hiding his or her phone number. Further, if the user's terminal was stolen, sensitive contents may be transmitted by the unauthorized user to an unintended receiver.